Via of Viviane’s Sex Carnival says
A few Tweeters pointed me to Richard Abowitz’s article on why porn-for-profit is dying:
“Every January, the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas is the biggest annual gathering of the adult film industry. But the biggest is suddenly a lot smaller. The 2010 AEE convention, which ran Thursday through Sunday, had shrunk from packing two floors of the Venetian’s Sands Expo Center last year down to one floor (and that one with lots of empty space).”
Read the quote and follow the links to original sources here.
Following Viviane’s link to Abowitz’s article at Daily Beast the reasons he gives for porn’s decline are the kind of reasons we’d probably like to see.
The first one I’m going to mention is a bit of a wash, seems to be #5 Porn-star prostitutes. These are sex-workers who, rather than put up with the Johnny-Knoxville-ization of porn (double penetrations, etc.), knock off a couple of porn videos mainly so they can put “porn star” on their escort sites in order to impress the mostly-very-vanilla customers with whom they negotiate over social media.
Item #4 doesn’t sound that intuitive, but online games like Halo or 2nd Life are evidently more long-term engaging entertainment. Abowitz doesn’t make the connection directly but this seems to go with Reason #2: video on demand. the average porn consumer spends 4-7 minutes looking at porn while masturbating. They then spend the rest of their spare time playing Halo or 2nd Life or what have you.
The remaining two reasons start getting a little more interesting.
Abowitz labels item #3, “The Taboo Is Gone.” With stigma collapsing there are more aspiring porn stars than there is demand from people who might hire them. And yes, I’m aware that for some people this is a sign of complete moral decay.
If so fine, be that way. But if you consider that just a couple of decades ago it was often the case that most people who appeared in porn had to be either desperate or outright coerced due to stigmatization that’s not a bad thing at all.
Which brings us to item #1, piracy. Abowitz says “According to porn star Dana DeArmond: ‘If people don’t realize it is stealing and start paying for their porn then performers are going to stop performing.’”
I’m not sure exactly how this is a bad thing overall. As a strong proponent of appearing in erotica if and only if one actually wants to appear in erotica it seems like if you wouldn’t do it unless someone paid you then you probably… well… shouldn’t do it.
There are more than enough people who would, will, and do make their own erotica and post it free of charge. And as there’s less and less stigma attached to doing so the social cost of any individual expressing him or herself approaches the social enjoyment she or he may derive from doing so.
I’m sure this is a disappointing position to people who both enjoy appearing in erotica and would like to be paid to do so. Including people I know and like who really do enjoy the work and would like to make their income from it. For which I apologize.
But by and large I’m pretty sure we’d be better off encouraging enough amateurs to get involved that it becomes impossible for anyone to directly profit from it. Indirectly, yes, as with, say, the equivalent of Google AdWords on Blogger or Tumblr pages. But in the grand scheme of things that’s very small change compared to the money that’s been sloshing around in porn.
Wow it was interesting to
Submitted by The Beautiful Kind (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 16:44.Wow it was interesting to hear from my friends all about the Vegas Expo. Really burned me up to hear that there were so many creepy men there groping the porn stars and being douchebags. I was also amazed to see all the bleach blond, wow.
So yeah, I think the world of porn is changing. I’m glad recording sex acts is less of a stigma these days. Interesting that other animals have sex in public, but humans tend to keep it private. This is where we blur the line. Keep going…
I have to take issue with a
Submitted by SnowdropExplodes (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 16:58.I have to take issue with a couple of your points/conclusions here:
I’m not sure exactly how this is a bad thing overall. As a strong proponent of appearing in erotica if and only if one actually wants to appear in erotica it seems like if you wouldn’t do it unless someone paid you then you probably… well… shouldn’t do it.
Would you apply the same logic to music, contact sports, stage dancing, or movie-making?
The fact is, the creation of media does generally cost money, it isn’t that easy to do it “for free”; the one reason I do have sympathy for the record company position over illegal internet downloads is that someone somewhere has to pay for the equipment and man-hours it takes to produce the recordings. Which kind of leads to me next point:
But by and large I’m pretty sure we’d be better off encouraging enough amateurs to get involved that it becomes impossible for anyone to directly profit from it.
Here’s the thing: most people these days have the ability to cook at home. So, by this logic, it ought not to be viable to run a restaurant these days, right? Everyone has digital video cameras, if not on their mobile then probably built into their purpose-built digital camera. So Hollywood ought to be out of business, right?
If all you want from porn is a grainy image of two bodies moving against each other, then yeah – amateur videos will do it for you much more cheaply than professional porn can. But I like my porn with at least some semblance of plot; I like it with some nod in the direction of professional camera work and lighting, and professional-standard resolution; I like it with what amounts to skill from the performers. And so on and so forth.
This, I think, is worth paying for.
There’s a reason why I still buy erotic novels despite the fact that there is so much erotic fiction available for free on the internet: publishers will employ staff who a) screen out the bad writers and bad writing, and b) help to hone and refine the good stuff so it’s the best it can be.
I’m sure this is a disappointing position to people who both enjoy appearing in erotica and would like to be paid to do so. Including people I know and like who really do enjoy the work and would like to make their income from it. For which I apologize.
Again, my point would be that if people have a talent for this form of performance art then they should be able to make a living from it – and there will probably always be a market for it, because talent and quality is worth paying for. I would hope that well-made, quality porn will remain viable for some time.
[“Would you apply the same logic to music, contact sports, stage dancing, or movie-making?” Well, technically yes. An excellent example being stage dancing — which was once considered highly disreputable in Western Society but which is now often taught to small, middle-class children in school and after-school programs with little or, more likely, no suggestion that even formal ballerinas might turn to prostitution on the side. As was once the assumption. Although see also still-current allegations that male ballet is still a provenance of homosexuality. As for music, sports, and even movie making for every overblown Andrew Lloyd Weber production or Beckham exhibition game there are 10,000 perfectly-enjoyable “amateur” productions. And most often even when those productions aren’t particularly enjoyable to watch they’re fun to make. The nice thing is that in a context of nearly universal, almost stigma-free routine-engagement and (rather important) fairly labor-rights-centric industries almost entirely different from contemporary industrial porn have tended to grow up to accommodate people who are just naturally inclined in that direction. And their audiences. So yeah, I’d apply the same logic to sports, movie-making, etc. No problem. Thanks, SE. —fl]
Well, my point was that even
Submitted by SnowdropExplodes (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 20:42.Well, my point was that even though there are 10,000 amateur productions, they don’t make professional performances non-viable, and that was the step in your reasoning with which I took most issue.
I’m sure there must be plenty of very athletic professional sportspeople who went into pro sports because they realised they had an ability there, and because it was their best chance of making a living for themselves – not because they had any particular love of the sport in question (although if they didn’t enjoy it at all, it would undoubtedly tell in their performances). I would hazard that there are some actors, dancers, musicians etc who have a similar relationship with their professions.
And, as you’ve discussed, the existence of tons of amateur-level sports, stage performance, music etc doesn’t change that fact.
This is why I think that the logic is flawed, because the conclusions don’t match what we find if we do extend it to other fields of the entertainment industry/performance arts industry.
"I’m not sure exactly how
Submitted by Froth (not verified) on Fri, 2010-01-15 18:48."I’m not sure exactly how this is a bad thing overall. As a strong proponent of appearing in erotica if and only if one actually wants to appear in erotica it seems like if you wouldn’t do it unless someone paid you then you probably… well… shouldn’t do it.
Would you apply the same logic to music, contact sports, stage dancing, or movie-making?"
I'm with Figleaf here. The logic still applies. I've been involved in several groups, including a professional company staffed by volunteers, and let me tell you - theatre people do it because they want to. There is no way to stop them. They don't perform because they get paid for it - they get paid for it so they don't have to work a day job. If they don't have to earn a wage, they can give all their time and energy towards performing. That's what they want to do, and if you're running a professional show, that's what you want them to do.
By analogy, in a world where everyone was free to produce amateur erotica if they wanted to, some people would regard making erotica as the best job in the world just as I regard theatre tech as the best job in the world. Those people would be thrilled if someone paid them to make porn, because then they could spend their time on their abiding passion and get paid for it.
So I think you're right that professional porn will continue to exist, just as professional theatre still exists. It'll just be made by more enthusiastic people for less money, and that includes the producers. It'll go from a way to make money to a way to pursue your favourite hobby and still make a living.
[Wow, Froth, you said it way better than I did. But then it sounds like you're a lot closer to theater than I was. Anyway, yes, the point isn't that no one will possibly be able to do it for money, it's that most people won't be able to do it for profit. Thanks! --fl]
the point isn’t that no one
Submitted by SnowdropExplodes (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-16 07:02.the point isn’t that no one will possibly be able to do it for money, it’s that most people won’t be able to do it for profit.
Firstly, yes – that distinction really didn’t come across in the OP at all. And the economic logic of the argument was that nobody would pay for porn, which would mean there would be no money in it – which means nobody could get paid. I think we’re a long way from a situation where porn will receive the same sorts of investment that other performing arts do!
But even so, when we say “for profit”, what do we mean by “profit”? I would want people who are performing in porn to take some profit from it, in the form of getting paid; so the suggestion seems to be that it should be possible to make enough to pay for performers, storyline developers (I hesitate to say whether or not they actually write full scripts, even in porn with storylines, I don’t know how much of the lines are ad libbed based on a description of how the story develops), cameras, lighting, sets, sex equipment, (in the case of BDSM porn) dungeon equipment, duplication and distribution (plus whatever I’ve forgotten) – but only just? In the present world, that’s not going to happen. Nobody invests the money without the expectation of a return. With theatre, music etc you can apply for government grants because there is seen to be something culturally valuable to those performing arts. At present, there is not seen to be anything culturally valuable about erotica. So in order for erotica to get made at a high level, someone somewhere is going to want a profit. We might, perhaps, campaign for erotica to be considered a legitimate recipient of public arts funding, but I can’t see that getting very far very fast (however much it might be a worthwhile cause in terms of reducing the stigma of sexuality in general)
Now, I’m a communist and I think that no one should have to worry about being paid, because all the basic necessities of life should already be met; the purpose of work will be self-fulfilment and that goes for porn as much as for any other form of work; I would hope that such a society, liberated from the Patriarchal meme-ecosystem, would value erotica as much as other art-forms, and invest in it properly. But I have to recognise that that is not the society we live in.
While ever we live in a society where people must work in order to live, rather than in order to improve or enjoy themselves, I think that in just about every field there will be those who do it because they happen to have marketable skills (which is what I was talking about with respect to sportspeople in my comment above); and I think sex work, in all its forms, is no different. That’s capitalism.
What I want to see initially is a world in which no person who definitely doesn’t want to be in porn is made to be. Those who are cool with it and want to earn from it, but don’t necessarily see it as their life’s vocation (i.e. might not bother if it weren’t for the cash), have as much right to be regarded as willing participants.
I think that we can agree that the world would be a better place without the porn industry as it currently exists. I think I may have just contributed a whole heap of words over a difference that is really quite thin, over what sort of a porn industry we should have instead.
[Let’s put it this way (you being a communist and all.) Where would you prefer to see the means of production located? In a few centralized, distribution-chain oriented enterprises where, really, the biggest cost and biggest profits seem to involve distribution and not production, and with really high barriers to independent entry? Or a nearly entirely decentralized system distributed by common carrier with very low costs of entry resulting in much more of a reverse “long tail” revenue where most entrants don’t expect to earn much money but people who are particularly well-suited to the medium still tend to percolate upwards towards prominence and higher compensation? I’m pretty sure we both agree the latter is preferable (if out of somewhat different political-economics ideals.) I’m just saying I think we’re seeing the latter happening and it’s already killing the sort of stultifying stuff most people seem to think of, and grumble about, when they hear the word “porn.” Thanks, SE. —fl]
Coupla quibbles: the
Submitted by Holly Pervocracy (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-16 01:04.Coupla quibbles:
the Johnny-Knoxville-ization of porn (double penetrations, etc.),
C’mon now, some of us do that for fun. :p I’ve been in double penetrations (as penetrated and penetrator) and there was no camera and no money changing hands, just a girl who wanted to know what it felt like and two penis/strapon owners who were very happy to show her. It’s not some exotic circus act.
So Abowitz is half right here: “Among the acts DeArmond performs (solo or in group sex with men and/or women) are anal sex and double penetration. “I don’t think people are just going to do what porn stars do for free and put it on the Internet,” she said.”
It’s true, I won’t do what porn stars do—set up lights, apply makeup and body makeup, buy or rent a quality camera, hire a camera operator, edit, compress, and publish a video. But I’ll get fucked in the ass for free, hell yeah.
As a strong proponent of appearing in erotica if and only if one actually wants to appear in erotica it seems like if you wouldn’t do it unless someone paid you then you probably… well… shouldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t work at McDonald’s unless someone paid me, either. I don’t think that makes it wrong. I realize sex isn’t burger-flipping, but just because a person does something for the money doesn’t mean it’s coercive.
Plus, there’s the whole lights-camera-editing-etc factor, which no one wants to—or can—do for free no matter how open and joyous their attitude toward the actual sex.
[Excellent point about the lights, camera, action, makeup element. It also reminds me that this post was probably influenced, a lot, by your post Why I’m not a hooker. The premise of porn-as-stigma is that only a limited number of people… mostly women… are able to have sex, or able to have it willingly. And, conversely, to a remarkable degree people who are able or willing to are presented as either extra bad (sluts) or extra stupid (bimbos) or extra avaricious (whores) or depraved (Max Hardcore) or, less often, just calculating (Sasha Gray.) Again with the presumption that most people aren’t. And therefore, again, that most people aren’t that way and therefore don’t do it at all or, if they do, then they do it as boringly and perfunctorily as possible.
When, in fact, most people are perfectly capable of having and enjoying sex, and for nearly all of them the main limits on what they do are based on what doesn’t work for them and, even more so, on deep concerns of stigma. Where the stigma is perpetuated not only by “prudes” but by… porn tropes that describe sexual people as sluts, depraved, calculating, bimbos, etc.
So, since this is getting long, what I see as destroying industrial porn is the breakdown of the notion that what’s being paid for in porn is the “having sex” part, and especially the “stigma if anyone finds out you’re willing to have sex” part. As opposed to being paid not to have sex but instead to show up on time, deal with the lights, makeup, crew, and to be willing to stop when the director says cut. Even when it’s the good part. And then to start again when she or he says “action.”
Hope that makes sense. Thanks, Holly. —fl]
Where the stigma is
Submitted by Holly Pervocracy (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-16 11:12.Where the stigma is perpetuated not only by “prudes” but by… porn tropes that describe sexual people as sluts, depraved, calculating, bimbos, etc.
Yeah, really good point here. I was once approached to be in a BBW porn, and I might have done it if I didn’t see the marketing materials for previous entries in the series, which were wayyyy too full of nasty talk about how the stars were fat slut pig whores. Ew. I’m not going to take a day out of my schedule and get my crotch waxed and my blood tested and wait patiently for camera adjustments if you’re going to talk about me like that.
So, since this is getting long, what I see as destroying industrial porn is the breakdown of the notion that what’s being paid for in porn is the “having sex” part, and especially the “stigma if anyone finds out you’re willing to have sex” part. As opposed to being paid not to have sex but instead to show up on time, deal with the lights, makeup, crew, and to be willing to stop when the director says cut.
A lot of people will pay more for a DVD featuring porn-pretty people under good lighting in a professional set than they will for grainy shaky video of Joe and Jane Average in their messy apartment. And Joe and Jane, even if they’re total exhibitionists, are never going to want to have four hours of start-stop sex under $5000 lights. So I think industrial porn, while it may be shrinking due to amateur competition, will always be with us.
What I’m waiting for, perhaps in vain, is the day when industrial porn itself gets destigmatized—not to the point of going away but to treating their talent like any other actors, in payscale and harassment protections and in how they talk about them.
[“What I’m waiting for, perhaps in vain…” The strong impression I get from outsiders and a lot of more candid insiders is that the current crop of industrial pornographers aren’t ever going to get over their “golden era” mindset from the 1970s, or their J. Jonah Jameson approach to cost management and employee relations. —fl]
Some of the newer generation
Submitted by Kaija (not verified) on Tue, 2010-01-19 12:49.Some of the newer generation of biggish porn producers are making it business-as-usual to treat their talent like skilled actors or “models”, e.g., Kink.com, which not only does awesome high-end fetish work that is very inclusive and aimed at a variety of audiences with a variety of orientations, but they have a strict ethics policy, good benefits, and a longer-term employment track for models who want to transition to other jobs in the company. Read about it here: http://beta.kink.com/k/values.jsp?c=1
I think change is working its way through the industry and it’s customer driven…another good reason for destigmatizing and recognizing the workers in this industry as “workers” and not “sluts.”
[I’m going to do just a little push back with regards to Kink.com. Their business model involves doing objectively (but, importantly, not subjectively) painful-looking and/or degrading (which is fine if that’s your thing) but also highly gendered things to “good girls” who are volunteering for it and even, by what appears to be policy or even trademark, smiling for the camera afterwards. Without taking anything away at all from their genuinely admirable progressive policies and worker-centered responsibilities it does matter, a lot, that those policies contribute heavily towards the progressive/mainstream “good girl” ishness of their models, which consequently enhances the “depths” to which they’re subjected to during their on-camera sessions. Really, seriously, I’m not complaining, and the people I know personally or by reputation who’ve modeled for them really can’t say enough nice things about their experiences at Kink — either off camera or on. But I’ll be way more impressed when, say, SoCal production-mill pornographers start adopting the same standards. My strong impression is they won’t, which in no small part motivates my “good riddance” in the title, above. Thanks, Kaija. —fl]
Well, in all fairness, they
Submitted by Kaija (not verified) on Thu, 2010-01-21 19:12.Well, in all fairness, they DO specialize in hard core BDSM/fetish stuff that caters to an audience that is into that stuff, and there are many well-adjusted people of both genders who are interested in participating and consuming out of sheer interest/desire and healthy acceptance of what turns their particular cranks. And I think it’s important to note that it’s not just “good girls” having gendered stuff done to them by men, it’s girls doing thing to girls, guys doing things to guys (they have a huge gay market/following)...check out their offerings and it’s pretty damn inclusive, beyond the stereotypical “look” for female AND male models and orientations other than hetero are well-represented…which is a far cry from the mainstream, mass-produced porn aimed at the frat boy crowd. And I think that’s a huge step.
I realize I'm biased here,
Submitted by Sabrina Morgan (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-16 04:11.I realize I'm biased here, but I don't believe any market flooded with enthusiastic amateurs to the point that skilled professionals are lost in the shuffle and have difficulty making a consistent, professional wage is a good thing.
It happened with web design - hobbyists and part-timers came in, undercut prices, and made it a little harder for true professionals to make a living.
It happened with professional writing - with so many skilled amateurs happily blogging for free, it's easy to cut wages, or pay in little more than a byline and a link.
I absolutely hope that as SnowdropExplodes mentioned, viewers will always be happy to support quality porn productions. Frankly I think it would be very sad to see pornographers become starving artists, or to see porn acting/production become a hobby for those with the spare time and money to indulge without worrying about sacrificing their day jobs. Unfortunately I think in many cases that's already happening. It seems like the further we nudge our porn and erotica into the art column, the more we're saying that it's all right to undervalue sexual performers in the same way that we undervalue many creatives - but without the breakout opportunities that exist for mainstream creatives (blockbuster movies, bestselling novels).
And Holly Pervocracy, I think you hit it:
Plus, there’s the whole lights-camera-editing-etc factor, which no one wants to—or can—do for free no matter how open and joyous their attitude toward the actual sex.
Yes this is enjoyable work, but yes this is work.
[Hi Sabina. "Unfortunately I think in many cases that's already happening." I agree. And I agree it's certainly happening in lots of arenas. Where the obstacles appear to have been the number of people able to do quality work but the previous expense of running printing presses and distributing very large masses of paper, of operating factories for mass-producing and distributing vinyl or optical disks, and operating TV stations or movie studios. And as for what Holly said, I just answered that by saying one potential benefit of the ongoing collapse of industrial porn is the possibility that people will stop looking at porn in terms of sex that only crazy, depraved, or otherwise non-normal people being paid to do it and more in terms of being paid to handle the distractions of production.
Oh, and incidentally, I think you can see the effect I'm anticipating in the kind of work you do on your site where it doesn't seem to be as much about you personally rather than commodity sexiness. I'd expect to see more of that and far fewer San Fernando style mass productions. --fl]
Yes, this (and what Holly
Submitted by SnowdropExplodes (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-16 07:05.Yes, this (and what Holly said) is exactly what I was trying to get at!
There are more than enough
Submitted by makomk (not verified) on Sun, 2010-01-24 04:06.There are more than enough people who would, will, and do make their own erotica and post it free of charge.
Which will, presumably, last until the next big 18 USC 2257 enforcement push. It’s structured in such a way that only big porn companies can comply, and even then getting all the details right is apparently a massive pain.